Ok, lets get this out of the way real quick: Them vs. You vs. Me is NOT Tip, nor is it Greyest of Blue Skies, nor is it Finger Eleven: Self Titled...it is Them vs. You vs. Me. At first listen I, like many other people, started wondering after about 5 tracks if this was actually Finger Eleven. This record is not bad, it's different, and depending how you look at it, being different can be good or it can be bad. Finger Eleven will lose fans with this record, however let me be the first to point out one thing: Each F11 cd sounds different. No one can ever say F11 released "4 albums that all sounded the same", which you could say with alot of bands, perhaps those with an established sound. So with that said, I would be hard pressed to find many people that like the sound of all the records, however you have to give it to a band that it willing to use new sounds and expand their horizons.
I don't think this record is "radio friendly", and I think the lyrics are still meaningful and thoughtful, as they have always been with F11. If this record was "radio friendly" then all the songs would sound like "one thing", which was their mainstream radio hit. I would say the closest to "one thing" is "i'll keep your memory vague" which is a good ballad if i must say.
I'm still listening to this cd and allowing it to grow on me, and I think it will. My advice to anyone who has not heard F11 before "one thing" or "paralyzer" is to pick up Greyest of Blue Skies, and to not expect this record to sound entirely like "paralyzer". To those who have heard F11 before, judge this record as a new entity..NOT in comparison to their previous work.
1. "Paralyzer" - 3:28
2. "Falling On" - 3:07
3. "I'll Keep Your Memory Vague" - 3:46
4. "Lost My Way" - 3:59
5. "So-So Suicide" - 3:15
6. "Window Song" - 3:39
7. "Sense of a Spark" - 2:55
8. "Talking to the Walls" - 4:04
9. "Change the World" - 3:46
10. "Gather & Give" - 3:11
11. "Easy Life" - 5:12
Finger Eleven is the fourth album from the Canadian alternative rock band Finger Eleven. Because of its commercial success, they were welcomed to the SnoCore 2004 tour. "One Thing" became the biggest single off this record, reaching 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. Some of the songs have been featured in various EA games including "Stay In Shadow" (Burnout 3) and "Good Times" (SSX3). In a similar vein, "Other Light", "Conversations", and "Good Times" have all appeared in the Nintendo GameCube game 1080° Avalanche.
There was a Limited Edition version of the CD, which came with a bonus DVD featuring the "Good Times" music video, studio footage, and a live concert video.
Without a doubt, Finger Eleven is one of my current two favorite bands (Incubus being the other). I have rooted for both bands during their "moment of obscurity" whereas Incubus has broken into the mainstream and is now enjoying enormous record sales. Finger Eleven still has not. This band is fantastic, and this album is also fantastic. I will venture to say with the exception of Incubus and Staind, you are not going to find melody and aggression mix so seamlessly together. However, unlike most other entries into the nu-metal scene this album contains NO profanity, or phrases that might be deemed as offensive to women. That takes skill to pour your heart out and not give in to weak, frustrated shouts of aggression. But, what makes this album so great is that it's not a sophomore slump at all...instead it in ways improves upon their first album. The production is better and Scott Anderson's vocal harmonies became more complex...as well as James Black's and Rick Jackett's guitar work. Finger Eleven can make a heavy song without being totally devoid of melody. Actually, it seems like a rule with this band is that you can't have a song without melody...and that is a tool of good songwriting.
This entire CD can be listened to from beginning to end without having to fast forward past any of the songs. This entire album is great but there are a few songs that I'm partial to. "First Time" is a great opener...it sets the tone for the entire album. I will mention 3 others that are worthy to note. "Broken Words" is an absolutely beautiful song...how such a haunting melody and crunching guitars can be blended together is not easy and I challenge any so-called musician to reproduce Finger Eleven's sound as effortlessly. Perhaps, my favorite on this album is "Famous." How anyone cannot like this song is beyond me. If you don't like this song, you either hate rock music or do not like rock music with harmony and melody. And finally the perfect closer: "Stay and Drown." Again, an excellent song and the perfect way to end such a great album.
So, after this glowing report why only 4 stars? I would give it 4 1/2 if I could, but I'm not going to give it 5 stars like every fan would do for one reason: "Drag You Down." Unfortunately, this song has the potential to drag the album down. I feel as if this song was made to attract the nu-metal crowd. It is totally uncharacteristic of Finger Eleven's other music. While it does have great guitar riffs, there is very little melody, and the lyrics are in a word: mindless. Very monotonous, very simplistic and Scott barely even sings. I did like this song at first...but as I start to grow out of my nu-metal phase I see this song for what it really is. I can't blame them for trying to appeal to this crowd. They are far better than most bands out there and when their label spends all their marketing money on the sickening, posturing Alice-In-Chains clone that shall remain nameless...anyone would be desperate for a little self promotion. Here's hoping people will have their "arms wide open" to some REAL, original, honest music. So without further adieu, go out and support this great band.
1. "First Time" – 4:26
2. "Drag You Down" – 3:21
3. "My Carousel" – 3:43
4. "Sick of It All" – 3:18
5. "For the Ocean" – 2:56
6. "Broken Words" – 3:27
7. "Suffocate" – 3:44
8. "Bones + Joints" – 3:47
9. "Famous" – 4:08
10. "Walking in My Shoes" (Depeche Mode Cover)" – 3:52
11. "Stay and Drown" – 4:23
Finger Eleven are one of those great bands who have made a career out of sounding nothing like anyone else and avoiding trends. Their debut album, "Tip," was hardly keeping with the times. In 1998, they didn't sound like rap-metal, nor did they fit in with typical alternative radio. I hear a lot of things on this album that have been copied by a lot of bands to follow, which makes Finger Eleven one of the most underrated groups of the past decade. They've obviously had a bit of influence, even though hardly anyone knows their name.
"Tip," while not being as dark as the ultimately superior "The Greyest Of Blues Skies" or as sharp and catchy as their 2003 self titled album, still sticks out for me. As a debut, Finger Eleven sure got their feet on the ground rather quick, establishing a sound all their own. Fans working backwards through the groups catalogue may find this album a little harder to swallow, because it's not an instant click. You must listen to this album a few times before you get it. There are songs, though, that definitely catch you from the beginning. "Quicksand" and "Above," two of the best known songs from this effort are great examples of this, and "Awake And Dreaming" remains one of my favorite Finger Eleven songs, also a sign of what their second album would sound like. But hands down, the best song the group has ever written, in my opinion, is the title track "Tip." This song is so addictive. My first listen to this song nearly unhinged my jaw. If this song doesn't get you going, you just might be dead!
Finger Eleven have come a long way from this album, and admittedly have made better music (although a lot of fans will strongly disagree with me), but "Tip" still stands as a stellar debut effort. Few bands find their sound this quick, and coming from a band who used to go by the moniker, Rainbow Butt Monkeys, it's rather impressive. "Tip" is just an album that all fans of rock music can appreciate. From the heavy stuff to the more tender side, it's got it all.
Letters From Chutney is the debut album recorded by the Canadian post-grunge band The Rainbow Butt Monkeys, now known as Finger Eleven. It features a different sound than Finger Eleven's subsequent albums with funk and heavy metal influences. The album is currently out of print, however it is available on amazon.com for special order.
The name of the album alludes to the Bruno and Boots series of books by Gordon Korman, featuring two youths who attend a boarding school named Macdonald Hall in the fictitious Ontario town of Chutney.
1. "As Far As I Can Spit" – 3:56
2. "Danananana" – 4:54
3. "Brat" – 3:57
4. "Circles" – 4:31
5. "Spiderprints" – 4:01
6. "Nibber" – 3:34
7. "Dropping" – 3:41
8. "St. Louis" – 3:15
9. "Scrumpy" – 3:22
10. "Cake" – 4:08
11. "Cookin' in the Kitchen" – 5:22
12. "Let's Pretend" – 5:16
One of the tactics that we develop as teenagers is the ability, triggered by wanting to grow up and get out way too fast, to render somewhat ordinary feelings in overwrought terms. Andy Hull, the barely-able-to-legally drink driving force behind Manchester Orchestra, is one such kid. He formed the band in the Atlanta suburbs in his junior year of high school, and the resultant album titles signal his desire to transcend his youth with verbiage: There's the purposefully paradoxical, mildly shocking, and certainly cheesy I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child, or the 2005 EP You Brainstorm, I Brainstorm, But Brilliance Needs a Good Editor (apparently, album titles are excluded from said editing). Mean Everything to Nothing, the title of the band's latest and best-yet effort, tamps down the dramatics in favor of a pithy phrase drawn from the Young Existentialist's Handbook.
The emotions on Everything still run incredibly high, but the music has gotten much buffer, due no doubt to the band's relentless touring schedule over the past few years. The shift also owes something to the able hand of producer Joe Chiccarelli, who made the Shins sound arena-sized on Wincing the Night Away and manned the wayward ship of My Morning Jacket's Evil Urges, which for all of its ill-considered moves, still at least sounded great. In one interview last year, Hull called Everything "Pinkerton on steroids," and while the latter is certainly true, opening track "The Only One" makes Manchester Orchestra sound a lot more like "Kings of Leon's younger brothers." Like the Followill clan, Southern signifiers are packed tight amidst beefy riffs, with Hull's plaint that "I'm the only son of a pastor I know who does the things I do" substituting youthful angst for the brazen groupie-fucking of the Kings, themselves sons of a preacher man.
"The Only One" opens a solidly rocking first half of Everything, on which the band builds a blazing bulwark of stadium-sized redneck-dread. On "Shake It Out", Hull's lyrics-- voiced in a half-shouted/half-sung timbre that should sound exceedingly familiar by now-- ride a dual-exhaust punk riff to a chorus that just barely stops itself from diving headfirst into hillbilly territory. The title "I've Got Friends" nods backward to No Fences, but Hull is far from sweeping onstage via zipline, wireless mic strapped to his head. On "You, My Pride & Me", the band does an end-around the past 15+ years of emotionally-driven punk and plops down right in grunge territory. Hull may have been three when Bleach dropped, but his voice distantly channels a young and angry Kurt Cobain, and atop a dirge-like Black Sabbath cop to boot. When that monster riff hits, damn if I didn't yearn to pull out my nearly unplayable-for-a-decade-plus-of-scratches copies of Alice in Chains' Facelift and Dirt.
And that's a good thing. Hull may claim in interviews that Weezer and Neutral Milk Hotel (yes, you read that correctly) are major influences on his songwriting, but Everything works best in a Paleolithic rock register, instead of aiming for emo-trained ears. "One Hundred Dollars" attempts to merge Conor Oberst with Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)", and it's predictably awkward, and thankfully brief. It leads to a second half of Everything on which Hull is still high-strung, but his confusion is consistently tempered by varying degrees of revelation. On the midtempo ballad "My Friend Marcus", Hull tells the story of a friend who lives in his basement because "his father touched more than spirit," while on the title track, he confesses, again in the convoluted, Yoda-esque register of a confused, bright kid, that "Definitely, not the things that I'm seeing, did I think I'd see so instantly." Phew-- for a kid barely able to legally drink, Hull's got the exhaustion of middle age. And that's the thing that both defines Manchester Orchestra at this point, as well as what stops them from being great. When they're satisfied with rocking the fuck out, they do it exceedingly well, but when they try to acquire the adult answers, they'd do well to chill out and enjoy being young.
1. "The Only One" - 2:39
2. "Shake it Out" - 5:11
3. "I've Got Friends" - 4:57
4. "Pride" - 5:47
5. "In My Teeth" - 4:42
6. "100 Dollars" - 1:50
7. "I Can Feel a Hot One" - 4:19
8. "My Friend Marcus" - 3:41
9. "Tony The Tiger" - 3:09
10. "Everything To Nothing" - 5:37
11. "The River" - 11:33
On the opening track of this Atlanta quintet's first full-length, the acidic washes of the Verve's less commercial songs meld with the whiney inflections of, say, Placebo's Brian Molko. The guitars eventually move toward the falsely epic Edge of reason (the lick is virtually lifted from U2's "New Year's Day") before mechanical strums change tack again, pulling the potential of all this inattentive variety into a heap of head-tossing joy, more hapless crux of overwritten Dandy Warhol song than prologue track of festival-gracing rock newcomer. Andy Hull, the singer, lends the dullest songs an attitude; sometimes that attitude is simply warmth, other times it's an ornery kind of emotional outpouring. But when the better songs succeed, they leave the singer in the dust, his vocal twists and turns a cacophony among the seamless, inventive components of guitar, keyboard, drum, and bass, particularly noticeable on "Now That You're Home".
Much of the album has a road-bound, breezy, wistful tone, well-produced on the band's own label by Dan Hannon. On "I Can Barely Breathe", the sea-like gurgles of the guitar meld with car window-gazing plucks, and the torrid yelps of the chorus take us back to another moment of the 1990s, the almost furry thickness of guitars in songs by bands like Weezer and Toadies. The song's devolution is welcome; it's an impenetrably sad loop of descending chords mimicked in every instrument, and while there's nothing complex or entirely innovative about it, it's moving all the same.
The effect is similar to that of the candid lyrics of "Sleeper 1972", which recounts the most biological and vapid parts of death and their repercussions on the living. Accompanied only by an organ, Hull's voice takes on a sweet, hushed quality, and on this track the comparison to Ben Gibbard starts to make sense. Who else is able to discuss the morbid with such sugar in his voice?
The subjects here, musically grungy and convincingly adolescent, are, verbally speaking, full of references to childhood, family, relationships, desire, and sympathy. In "I Can Feel Your Pain", Hull sings into the microphone like it's a voicemail we're not really supposed to hear. But we become stand-ins for a distant addressee who might have never heard the message. While this personal bit of memorabilia, acoustic and nicely undercooked, is lovely, like many of the other tracks, it achieves this via atmosphere, with nebulous ideas rather than a riveting melody or story. And "Pain" is so different from the rest that it feels like a mere interlude. By contrast, the vocal synths on "Where Have You Been" help make the song sound majestic, so perhaps it's commendable that Hull can direct songs that are both miniscule and mountainous in volume, and can achieve the same emotive weight in either case.
1. "Wolves at Night" — 4:05
2. "Now That You're Home" — 3:08
3. "The Neighborhood Is Bleeding" — 2:49
4. "I Can Feel Your Pain" — 2:52
5. "Where Have You Been?" — 6:15
6. "I Can Barely Breathe" — 5:01
7. "Sleeper 1972" — 4:08
8. "Golden Ticket" — 3:31
9. "Alice and Interiors" — 4:19
10. "Don't Let Them See You Cry" — 1:45
11. "Colly Strings" — 5:59
When I first caught Atlanta's Manchester Orchestra a few years back, I was instantly hooked but could never have foreseen the band's meteoric rise which has included performances on the Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. With Andy Hull's always-disarming lyrics at the foundation of their melodic indie rock, Manchester Orchestra is set to release Mean Everything To Nothing on April 21st. The album's production responsibilities go to Joe Chicarrelli, who has helmed releases from The Shins and My Morning Jacket. Sounds promising. Back in 2005, the then-unknown young band recorded an album entitled Nobody Sings Anymore, which was never released due to the band's shift in musical direction and lineup changes. While a handful of the tracks were included on the band's EP You Brainstorm, I Brainstorm, But Brilliance Needs A Good Editor, the remainder of the songs remain shelved for possible future release. Here's a couple of them.
1. "Golden Ticket" — 3:31
2. "Window" — 2:21
3. "The Procession" — 3:28
4. "I'd Rather Have" — 4:34
5. "She Found a Love" — 5:25
6. "Anything Left" — 3:26
7. "The Other Side" — 3:17
8. "Please Don't Go" — 2:56
9. "Girl with Broken Wings" — 6:39
10. "Slow to Learn" — 2:47
11. "La-Di-Da" — 4:29
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